Suddenly Switzerland!

So, after months of varying degrees of lockdown in the UK and going nowhere, suddenly a trip to Switzerland (thank you OceanCare). Here are a few images from around the edges of Lake Zurich.

Firstly, a view of the lake from the town of Thalwil

A sleepy great=crested grebe on the early morning lake.

And a grey heron enjoying his own private pier

Yacht school on the lake - looks like fun

An old boat house on the Thawl shore

A sign of the winter ahead - the ski-hire shop in Thalwil.

One of the local ferries crosses the lake 

And a restaurant boat lights up the night

And finally a view of downtown Zurich and the Limmat River. 

At a Bishop's Palace on a sunny September day.

Some photos from a sunny afternoon at the Bishop's Palace in Wells, Somerset. This is adjacent to the cathedral with views across its many water features to this magnificent building.  

It is famous for its garden, bell-ringing swans, moat and abbey ruins.

More about it HERE.

The early Autumn badger comes looking for snacks!

 

August Bank Holiday Evening 2021 - a seaside town.

 This is Shanklin, Isle of Wight - a seaside holiday town in the south of England. 

A big bank holiday weekend concludes under grey skies but there are some beacons of light.

Here is Regent's Street at the heart of the town. All is quiet.

Viewed from the cliff top the sea is also quiet.

The cliff walks are also empty. Where is everyone?

A few tankers are paused for the holiday offshore in Sandown Bay.

Hope beach is quiet; the beach huts empty.

Only the gulls are enjoying the waves.

Along the seafront the light suggest some activity.

The arcade is busy and also the fish and chip shop next door.

Likewise the pretty seaside bar and restaurant.

Back in the town as the clock strikes eight the lights are on and there is laughter coming from the pub!

 

Inbetweener Birds of mid-Summer

 The inbetweeners - this year's fledglings are beginning to change into their adult plumage. Clockwise from the top - a teenage blackbird boy; a starling with its speckled adult plumage spreading from its tail; a young lady black bird; and a young robin with a hint of the famous red breast that he (or she) will wear for the rest of their life. Good luck youngsters!

Muntjac Manor

 This is a muntjac deer - the one above is a mature male, as his two sharp little antlers and the bony ridges on his head show. They are said to be mainly solitary and territorial and they mark their territory using scent glands - two of which sit under their eyes (like our tear glands). This leads to the very unusual behaviour caught in the fourth little clip below. 

But first here is a female who seems very interested in the camera -

A couple of  badgers pass through - 

And here on the very same spot a fox pauses - 

Here is the marking video -

Some noisy sniffing from a male-

And another female muntjac -

Roe deer at midsummer

 

Here are two rather special sections of film showing the local roe deer. In the first you can see what I think is a mother and following behind, a quite well grown fawn. The fawn is a male - note the two little buds on his forehead that will form antlers. 

The second video shows a fast moving adult roe-buck.

Below - almost certainly the same fawn about a month later - his little antler-buds even more pronounced now. 

Tales of the Hidden Deer

The grass and the nettles are tall in the meadows and clearings and the little local deer can easily hide.

This is making finding them and getting pictures very difficult this year but here are some little bits of  film of the roe deer, including a tiny fawn. 

And here is another mother-fawn pair - spotted on the far side of a field a little earlier this month.

Into the summer wetlands

Somewhere out on the Somerset levels, not far from Glastonbury, there are three areas of wetlands that are nature reserves. Here are some images from two of them Westhay National Nature Reserve and the RSPB's West Ham Nature Reserve. 

First a few ducks happily feeding -

Mute swans in one of the canals.

A little family of coots.

A juvenile mute swan - perhaps one of last year's.

Another old coot!

A great egret.

Cormorant.

. 

A common blue damselfly

Foxgloves.

And a great crested grebe.

May Day in the Village

Here is a village locked in time for some 200 years - although some parts are older, like the Abbey (which is thirteenth century), in the photo immediately below. Its name Laycock comes from its original Saxon settlers who called it 'lacuc' or 'little stream'.

And it has been used as a backdrop for many film and TV productions, including  'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' , 'Downton Abbey', Cranford and the BBC’s 'Pride and Prejudice'.

And here is it on a cold but clear May Day.  More about Laycock on its National Trust pages HERE.